Reading (i/ˈrɛdɪŋ/RED-ing[8]) is a large town and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England. It was an important centre in the medieval period, as the site of Reading Abbey, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses. Today Reading is a commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow.

The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth. The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. It is ranked the UK's top economic area for economic success and wellbeing, according to factors such as employment, health, income and skills.[9] Reading is also a retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley, and is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club and the London Irish rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon.

Reading may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain, possibly as a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum.[12] However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingum. The name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English,[13] or less probably the CelticRhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River.[14] In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their winter quarters in London.[15][16]

By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick.[18][21] Reading played an important role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643. The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century.[16][22] Reading played a significant role during the Revolution of 1688: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign.[16][23]

The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous.[24] Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel.[25] From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon.[26][27]

The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911. Compared to many other English towns and cities, Reading suffered little physical damage during either of the two World Wars that afflicted the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured in the conflicts. One significant air raid occurred on 10 February 1943, when a single Luftwaffe plane machine-gunned and bombed the town centre, resulting in 41 deaths and over 100 injuries.[38] The Lower Earley development, built in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe.[39][40] It extended the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 motorway, which acts as the southern boundary of the town. Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading. A major town-centre shopping centre, The Oracle, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th century Oracle workhouse, which once occupied a small part of the site. It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4,000 jobs.[41][42]

Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall, a guild hall situated by the River Kennet near today's Yield Hall Lane.[54] After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John, the former hospitium of Reading Abbey.[54] For some 400 years up to the 1970s, this was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today's Town Hall.[55] In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre.[56]

The government of the Borough of Reading follows the leader and cabinet model. Following the 2011 local elections, a Labour minority administration replaced the previous Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition on the casting vote of the mayor.[57] The borough also has a (largely ceremonial) mayor. Cllr Tony Jones has been the mayor of Reading since June 2014.[2]

Current boundaries of the Borough of Reading

Since 1887, the borough has included the former villages of Southcote and Whitley and small parts of Earley and Tilehurst.[58] By 1911, it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst.[59] A small area of Mapledurham parish was added in 1977. An attempt to take over a small area of Eye and Dunsden parish in Oxfordshire was rejected because of strong local opposition in 1997.[59] Today the borough itself is unparished, and the wards used to elect the borough councillors generally ignore the old parish boundaries and use invented ward names.[60]

Reading's municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs, some of which (Tilehurst, Calcot, Earley and Woodley) are, at least partly within West Berkshire or Wokingham Borough. This unusual configuration creates difficulties. The diminishing amount of land available and suitable for development within the borough's boundary can bring the council into conflict with its neighbours' development plans. This particularly affects education (many schools have catchment areas that cross administrative boundaries), and transport. A perennial example is whether to construct a third road crossing of the Thames, which South Oxfordshire's politicians and residents oppose.[61][62] On this subject, Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East, said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006:[63]

"However, the process has been painfully slow and it appears that, for every two steps forwards, there are three steps backwards—mainly because of the view of South Oxfordshire district council, which is being incredibly parochial about this matter. Meanwhile, Reading Borough Council is adopting strategies that prioritise local traffic in Reading, obviously to the detriment of through traffic. We have now reached the point at which we desperately need direct Government intervention to break the logjam between those local authorities."

'As the crow flies' Reading is 36 miles (58 km) due west of central London, 24 miles (39 km) southeast of Oxford, 70 miles (110 km) east of Bristol, and 50 miles (80 km) north of the English south coast. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet, close to their confluence, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames floodplain. The absence of a floodplain on the Kennet in this defile enabled the development of wharves.

As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs (part of the North Wessex DownsArea of Outstanding Natural Beauty); to the south and south-east on the south side of the Kennet; and to the north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet floodplain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area, which is a cause of road congestion there.

The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding. However, in the 2007 floods that affected much of the UK, no properties were affected by flooding from the Thames and only four properties were affected by flooding from the Kennet.[64][65]

Depending on the definition adopted, neither the town nor the urban area are necessarily coterminous with the borough. Historically, the town of Reading was smaller than the borough. Definitions include the old ecclesiastical parishes of the churches of St Mary, St Laurence and St Giles, or the even smaller pre-19th century borough.[59] Today, as well as the town centre Reading comprises a number of suburbs and other districts, both within the borough itself and within the surrounding urban area. The names and location of these suburbs are in general usage but, except where some of the outer suburbs correspond to civil parishes, there are no formally defined boundaries. The Reading urban area, sometimes referred to as Greater Reading, incorporates the town's eastern and western suburbs outside the borough, in the civil parishes of Earley, Woodley, Purley-on-Thames and Tilehurst.

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970.[66] The local absolute maximum temperature of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) was recorded in August 2003 and the local absolute minimum temperature of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) was recorded in January 1982.

The borough has a population of 160,825 and a population density of 3,981 per square kilometre (10,311/sq mi) (mid-2014 est.),[4] while the Office for National Statistics' definition of the urban sub-division of Reading is significantly larger at 218,705 people in an area of 51.14 square kilometres (19.75 sq mi). This urban subdivision is itself a component of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area with a population of 318,014 (2011 census),[11] and is the most populous town in the United Kingdom not to have city status.[44][69]

Reading is an important commercial centre in the Thames Valley and Southern England. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the UK offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.[77] Whilst located close enough to London to be sometimes regarded as part of the London commuter belt, Reading is a net inward destination for commuters. During the morning peak period, there are some 30,000 inward arrivals in the town, compared to 24,000 departures.[78]

The Frank Matcham-designed Royal County Theatre, built in 1895, was located on the south side of Friar Street. It burned down in 1937.[106] Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis organ.[107] Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon and South Street Arts Centre.[108][109] Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre,[110] a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre.[111]

The demonym for a person from Reading is Readingensian,[6] giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians, based in Sonning, and of former members of Reading School. An alternative demonym is Readingite.[7]

Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield.[113] The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel,[114] first published in 1835, is largely based on Reading. Described with topographical accuracy, it is still possible to follow the steps of the novel's characters in present-day Reading.

Reading also appears in the works of Thomas Hardy where it is called 'Aldbrickham'. It features most heavily in his final novel, Jude the Obscure, as the temporary home of Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead.

Reading has a local newspaper, the Reading Chronicle, published on Thursdays. The town's other local newspaper, the Reading Post, ceased publication on paper in December 2014, in order transition to an online only format under the title getreading. An online magazine, Alt Reading, publishes daily articles focusing on arts, entertainment and culture in Reading.[125] A local publishing company, the Two Rivers Press, has published over 70 book titles, many on the topic of local history and art.[126][127]

Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds, including 5 miles (8.0 km) of riverside paths.[128] In the town centre is Forbury Gardens, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park, previously an estate owned by Frances Kendrick and acquired by the Reading Corporation in 1901.[129][130]

The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. Southern Electric runs the local electricity distribution network, while SGN runs the gas distribution network. A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2-megawatt (peak) Enerconwind turbine at Green Park Business Park, wired to the local sub-grid. It has the potential to produce 3.5 million units of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.[142]

The dialling code for fixed-line telephones in Reading is 0118. BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSLbroadband internet connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections.

Reading's location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town an important location in the nation's transport system.

The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the Thames and the Kennet. Both of these rivers are navigable, and Caversham Lock, Blake's Lock, County Lock, Fobney Lock and Southcote Lock are all within the borough. Today, navigation is exclusively for purposes of leisure: private and hire boats dominate traffic, while scheduled boat services operate on the Thames from wharves on the Reading side of the river near Caversham Bridge.[143][144]

Today local public transport is largely by road, which is often affected by peak hour congestion in the borough. A frequent local bus network within the borough, and a less frequent network in the surrounding area, are provided by Reading Buses. Other bus operators include First, Thames Travel and Newbury Buses. ReadiBus provides an on-demand transport service for disabled people in the Reading area.

The OYBikebicycle sharing system operates in Reading, with approximately 15 bicycles and with docking stations at Reading station, Holiday Inn (Basingstoke Road) and Green Park.[152] In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a larger scheme similar to Barclays Cycle Hire in London, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading.[153][154]

Reading Minster, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier.[170] Although eclipsed in importance by the later Abbey, Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the Abbey.

Reading has had an organized Jewish community since 1886. At least one Jewish family living in the area has been traced back as far as 1842. The group grew to 13 families, who in 1886 declared themselves a community and commenced building a synagogue. On 31 October 1900, Reading Synagogue officially opened in a solemn public ceremony, packed to capacity with dignitaries, lead by the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler. Reading Synagogue, which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre, is a Grade 2-listed historical structure, built to a traditional design in the Moorish style. The community forms the spiritual and communal centre for Jews in Berkshire and surrounding counties and is affiliated with the Orthodox United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.[181] Reading also has a Liberal Jewish community which convenes in the Reading QuakerMeeting House[182] and a UK Reform Jewish community which convenes in nearby Maidenhead Synagogue.[183]

There is presently one mosque, the Central Reading Mosque.[190] The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre, on Oxford Road in West Reading, was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2006, but, as of July 2008, had no estimated completion date.[191][192] A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission.[193] This £4m project has garnered some controversy.[194]

The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team, Reading Racers. Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium, until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley,[205] which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which was once hoped to be completed in 2012.[206]

The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club in 11 December 1982.[209] Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director.[210] Thames Valley Triathletes, based in the town, is Britain's oldest triathlon club, having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield, when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club.[211]